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Standing up for your health

Sitting for long periods of time carries serious health risks

Pamela Mitchell
| on February 14, 2014

When Dr. Cecilia Valdes left a busy fertility practice to teach at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, she found herself sitting more than ever in a typical workday. The decrease in physical activity was not welcome.

"I hated it," she said. "Our bodies are not made to just sit. We are made to move."

So move she did. The associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology tried out a stationary-bicycle desk, treadmill desk and standing desk in her office to come up with the right setup for her work style. Valdes now has a standing desk that she can lower and raise with the crank of a handle to suit her task, and off to the side sits a stationary bike that slides easily underneath.

"I found that I need variety and do much better when I have options. I might get on the bike for 30 minutes when I'm talking on the phone, but I prefer standing for reading and writing," she explained. "And sometimes I'll say, `It's time to sit for a while.' "

Research going back more than a decade links sitting for long periods of time to a number of serious health issues. Earlier this year, a study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Heart Failure linked sitting for long period to increased heart failure risk in men -- even those who exercise regularly.

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The study looked at 84,170 men aged 45 to 69 over a period of about eight years and found that men who spent five or more hours a day sitting -- outside of work -- were 34 percent more likely to develop heart failure than men who spent no more than two hours a day sitting, regardless of how much they exercised.

Heart failure risk more than doubled in men who sat for at least five hours a day and got little exercise compared to men who were physically active and sat for two hours or less a day.

Sitting too much can also lead to blood clots in the legs, said Dr. Steven Kunkes, a cardiologist with Cardiac Specialists in Fairfield and several other locations in the region. Kunkes said clots caused by frequent sitting can lead to long-term disabilities and, in some cases, the clots can break off and move to the lungs, leading to a pulmonary embolism.

Despite these risks, people seem to be sitting more than ever, Kunkes said. "We have so much more time in front of computer screens, and TV that we're not as active as we could be," he said.

Linda Gottlieb, a fitness coach and wellness consultant in Milford, agreed. Over the past few decades, she said, the growth of technology -- from our increasing reliance on cars to the surging importance of computers to the workplace, has made us a much more sedentary population than we once were. "It's such a (health) problem now that fitness professionals are focusing less on exercising and more on not sitting," she said.

Like Valdes, Gottlieb has office equipment that allows her to stand while working. That's something many experts recommending, including Dr. James A. Levine, professor at Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University, as well as co-director of the Mayo Clinic/ASU Obesity Initiative. He said an office setup that allows for standing and moving helps offset the time spent sitting, which does damage regardless of a person's activity level outside of work. Standing and moving also increase blood flow, tone muscles and speed up metabolism to burn more calories than sitting.

That last health benefit was the initial reason Kathryn Curtice requested a standing desk for her office at Houston real estate development company Welcome Group. She lost 35 pounds last year and did not want to see them come back, a challenge considering her role as an executive assistant keeps her at a desk all day.

After recovering from the sticker shock that often accompanies shopping for adjustable office furniture, Curtice found the Varidesk. It fits on top of an existing desk, easily switches between sitting and standing height and costs $275 or $300, depending on the model. "I love it. I sit to eat and when I'm reconciling bank accounts, but that's only for an hour to an hour and a half a day," she said.

Curtice also keeps a small, portable stair-climber under her desk and does 15-minute sessions twice a day while she works. The new setup has helped her keep the weight off and see other improvements in her health.

"My shoulders used to hurt at the end of the day; my hips and back would be sore. Not anymore," she said.

Just as Curtice praises a work setup that allows for standing and moving -- three fellow employees have followed her lead and added the Varidesk -- so does Valdes. She donated equipment she tested but did not keep for her office to the school for use by students, and with a group of students began research into the cognitive impact of using the different pieces of equipment while studying.

The treadmill desk she tried out now sits in a study area on the Baylor College of Medicine campus, as does a stationary-bicycle FitDesk; Valdes kept the FitDesk she bought for her office, and the maker donated another to the school for the research study.

The two-year study will run through 2014, but the students already see anecdotally the positive mental and physical benefits of using the equipment.

"For the first-year students, like myself, the vast majority of our week is spent in this setting, sitting and studying," explained Timothy Dunn, who helps conduct the research with fellow students Kathleen Mundy, Margaret Taylor and Emily Rutledge. "You have to learn all of the material before you can move into a hospital setting and try to apply it."

Whereas they would have turned to caffeine or food to power through long study sessions, they now switch to the available treadmill or stationary-bicycle desk for 30 minutes or an hour to regain focus.

Valdes hopes their research shows that using the equipment while studying helps with retention, among other cognitive benefits, but will be satisfied to prove that it does not detract from the task at hand so that she can recommend standing and moving while working to educational institutions and employers alike.

Staff writer Amanda Cuda contributed to this story. She can be reached at acuda@ctpost.com or 203-330-6290.